A coastal history
HISTORIC Cutty Sark in its final seaworthy years on the Thames, the Queen Elizabeth II, last of the great British passenger liners, about to make her maiden voyage and Brighton West Pier and Southampton Royal Pier when they still adorned their respective seafronts in the 1950s are among the most memorable of the 150 black-and-white and colour images brought together in a new book from Historic England, England’s Maritime Heritage from the Air, by Peter Waller (£35).
Drawn from the Aerofilms collection, now in the hands of English Heritage, pictures and text offer an aerial view of the changing face of England’s seaside towns, naval bases, ports and shipyards, the decline of industry and the growth of the maritime leisure industry, from the early decades of the 20th century up to the present day. Jack Watkins